Now that the NBA season is officially over after the Warriors championship, all the free agency buzz can really get started.
There are going to be lots of rumors of which team wants to trade for a certain player or what player wants to go to which team.
One of the players who will be popular in rumors is Lakers Russell Westbrook who lots of analysts and insiders think will somehow get traded. It wasn’t Russ’ best season of his career so there has been a lot of negative talk, probably unfair, surrounding him and the Lakers don’t have many attractable assets to attach to a Russ trade so it’s going to be a little tougher to trade him.
According to a report by Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer, the Lakers have their eyes set on bringing in Wizards Bradley Beal. On an episode of The Void, O’Connor says
The one name that I’ve heard recently is Bradley Beal as another guy that they want. I’m not sure if the interest is as mutual. You know Beal, it seems like Miami would be more of a threat to take him away from Washington. I don’t think you can also rule out Boston either because of his relationship with Jason Tatum, but the Lakers are trying to angle for some moves like that using the Russ expiring [contract] and the ’27 and the ’29 firsts,”
The Lakers have been unwilling to send out their 2027 draft pick due to LeBron James age and not knowing his future with the team and Anthony Davis’ health. Having that pick will give them more flexibility and it wouldn’t make that much sense to trade it for someone who isn’t going to get the Lakers to contending again. Beal could be that guy.
He’s young enough to pair with Anthony Davis and they could sign him to a long term deal so they have another star for after LeBron. It would take a sign and trade which would hard cap the team and make it harder to put guys around the stars but it’s definitely possible.
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